Befriended Stranger

Today is my name’s day. In Bulgaria, where I come from, it means celebrating the day of the saint after whom you were named. Since most people there are named after a saint, and there are only limited number of saints, pretty much everyone knowns when is your name’s day. You prepare your home for visits by friends and family members, to celebrate and rejoice. I do miss these celebrations and I will celebrate tonight, even on a smaller scale, with my wife and kids.

But today I am also reflecting on the meaning of naming a child after a saint. Since I was always immersed in the tradition, I have never had time to discern beyond the habit of it. Now I can see the dual meaning:

1. to be named after someone whose life was an example of devotion to Faith and detachment from material belongings.
2. to be protected by a soul whose whole life was dedicated to spreading God’s teachings of holy and saintly life.

Baha’u'llah in His “Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah” inspires us to live a saintly life:

He is My true follower who, if he come to a valley of pure gold, will pass straight through it aloof as a cloud, and will neither turn back, nor pause. Such a man is, assuredly, of Me. From his garment the Concourse on high can inhale the fragrance of sanctity…. And if he met the fairest and most comely of women, he would not feel his heart seduced by the least shadow of desire for her beauty. Such an one, indeed, is the creation of spotless chastity. Thus instructeth you the Pen of the Ancient of Days, as bidden by your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful.

And further He states:

The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.

And He promises the help and protection of the saintly souls and angels from the Concourse on High:

Let not your hearts be perturbed, O people, when the glory of My Presence is withdrawn, and the ocean of My utterance is stilled. In My presence amongst you there is a wisdom, and in My absence there is yet another, inscrutable to all but God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing. Verily, We behold you from Our realm of glory, and shall aid whosoever will arise for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the Concourse on high and a company of Our favored angels.

Yesterday I finished reading a wonderful book called “Against Incredible Odds” by Baharieh Rouhani Ma’ani, the mother of a dear friend, Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing. What an inspiring story! The difficulties her family faced with resignation to God’s Will is such a timely lesson about the strength God gives when we choose to follow His path! I keep on thinking about the problems we create for ourselves when we put our own ego at the center of the universe, and how indeed true healing comes from putting God as the focal point in one’s life.

I was biking to work in the cold rain this morning, and it was unpleasant, but I was thinking of the hardship that Baha’u'llah and his devoted servants endured during His banishment from His homeland, and it made me realize that my difficulties are almost trivial in comparison. Of course, we all have our unique measure, and what is a test for one person might be easy for another, but the point is that the healing medicine is universal — turning to God and resigning to His will.

‘Abdu’l-Baha in His “Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha”, pp. 151-152, says:

“There are two ways of healing sickness, material means and spiritual means. The first is by the treatment of physicians; the second consisteth in prayers offered by the spiritual ones to God and in turning to Him. Both means should be used and practised.

“Illness which occur by reason of physical causes should be treated by doctors with medical remedies; those which are due to spiritual causes disappear trough spiritual means. Thus an illness caused by affliction fear, nervous impressions, will be helped more effectively by spiritual rather than by physical treatment. Hence, both kinds of treatment should be followed; they are not contradictory. Therefore, thou shouldst also accept physical remedies inasmuch as these too have come from the mercy and favour of God, Who hath revealed and made manifest medical science so that His servants may profit from this kind of treatment also. Thou shouldst give equal attention to spiritual treatments, for they produce marvellous effects.

“Now if thou wishest to know the true remedy which will heal man from all sickness and will give him the health of the Divine kingdom, know that it is the precepts and teachings of God. Focus thine attention upon them.“

And a letter to an individual believer writen on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in 1937 states:

“It is now your duty as a Baha’i­, and specially as a young believer who has still great services to render the Faith, to make every effort to recovery your health, and to be confident that by making such an effort you will be attracting the confirmations of Baha’u'llah, without which no true and lasting healing is possible.“

Last night my 2 year old daughter had woken up in the middle of the night calling for me, looking for me down the stairs, calling out my name, trying to find me. What a yearning, what an intuitive expression of love! Even though she didn’t know where to find me, and she knew where she would not find me, she searched for me, following the call of her heart! Just as I have, throughout my life, searched for my heavenly Father often in the wrong place… But my heart never gave up on this search, because God has claimed it for Himself from the beginning of my creation:

O Son of Being!

The heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.
Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.

The Hidden Words of Baha’u'llah

And God, being the loving Father, will never leave us alone, whether we know where to find Him right away or not:

The fatherhood of God, His loving-kindness and beneficence are apparent to all. In His mercy he provides fully and amply for His creatures and if any soul sins He does not suspend His bounty. All created things are visible manifestations of His fatherhood, mercy and heavenly bestowals.

‘Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity

I was invited to tell the story of the Bab at the celebration of the Birth of the Bab. I felt so unworthy, yet so grateful for such an honor. I prayed to God to put the right words in my mouth, and He helped! He is known for helping! Thank you, God!

I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy mercy that hath surpassed the entire creation, and Thy generosity that hath embraced all created things, to cause me to turn my face wholly towards Thee, and to seek Thy shelter, and to be steadfast in my love for Thee. Write down, then, for me what Thou didst ordain for them who love Thee. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou pleasest. No God is there beside Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.

Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations

Monday night at Feast, a friend shared eloquently something that touched me deeply. She recalled an occasion where she had said “The whole free will thing is overrated. I wish I could hear God tell me what to do all the time so I could do it. I wish I would get letters from God to guide me.” Somebody then had responded to her: “Yes, you do get letters from God. They are not daily or weekly, they are annual — the Ridvan Letters from the Universal House of Justice”! How very profound!

I too have been sent the Ridvan letter from the Universal House of Justice, calling me to teach:

What all must acknowledge, irrespective of circumstance, are both the crying need of a humanity that, bereft of spiritual sustenance, is sinking deeper into despair and the urgency of the responsibility to teach with which we each have been entrusted as members of the community of the Greatest Name…

We look with expectant eyes to the day when teaching is the dominating passion in the life of every believer and when the unity of the community is so strong as to enable this state of enkindlement to express itself in unremitting action in the field of service. This, then, is our ardent hope for you and the object of our most fervent prayers at the Sacred Threshold.

This morning greets me with yet another gem from Baha’u'llah’s “Hidden Words” (Persian, #56):

O My Son! The company of the ungodly increaseth sorrow, whilst fellowship with the righteous cleanseth the rust from off the heart. He that seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones; and he that desireth to hearken unto the word of God, let him give ear to the words of His chosen ones.

Reading this passage inspired me to search Ocean, the Baha’i Scripture Library, for other references to the ungodly. This is the selection from “Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah”, which I chose (or did God choose it for me?) to inspire me today:

O My servants! Deprive not yourselves of the unfading and resplendent Light that shineth within the Lamp of Divine glory. Let the flame of the love of God burn brightly within your radiant hearts. Feed it with the oil of Divine guidance, and protect it within the shelter of your constancy. Guard it within the globe of trust and detachment from all else but God, so that the evil whisperings of the ungodly may not extinguish its light. O My servants! My holy, My divinely ordained Revelation may be likened unto an ocean in whose depths are concealed innumerable pearls of great price, of surpassing luster. It is the duty of every seeker to bestir himself and strive to attain the shores of this ocean, so that he may, in proportion to the eagerness of his search and the efforts he hath exerted, partake of such benefits as have been pre-ordained in God’s irrevocable and hidden Tablets. If no one be willing to direct his steps towards its shores, if every one should fail to arise and find Him, can such a failure be said to have robbed this ocean of its power or to have lessened, to any degree, its treasures? How vain, how contemptible, are the imaginations which your hearts have devised, and are still devising! O My servants! The one true God is My witness! This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein! Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.

So, the globe of trust and detachment is the best protection from the whisperings of the ungodly. Advised by Abdu’l-Baha, I take the ungodly to be the animal nature within me and whatever external influences might lead me to stray away from the path God had chosen for me.

Trust in God is something I am only recently discovering. Just this morning, while biking down the hill to work, I prayed to God to protect me as I let go and sped. The feeling was freeing and exhilarating…

Detachment is also something I have been gently learning to practice recently — it is not intuitive, it is not easy, but when I remind myself of the presence of God in my life, it makes it possible. With God, anything is possible, even reconnecting in fellowship with His loved ones, the ones whose presence nurtures me and cleanses the rust off my heart!

I love discovering the broader context of prayers and writings that I find nurturing. Today’s message from the Baha’i Readings email list brought me a prayer I have always love — one of the most favorite prayers my older daughter sings. It is fascinating to read the whole passage from “Selections From the Writings of the Bab” (p. 123):

Rid thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this
prayer:

Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.

Regard not the all-sufficing power of God as an idle fancy. It is that genuine faith which thou cherishest for the Manifestation of God in every Dispensation. It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would suffice thee. If thou art not a believer, the Tree of divine Truth would condemn thee to extinction. If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou possess nothing.

Another interesting discovery was offered through a song, sang by Eric Dozier and JB Eckl, which today my wife and I played in the car on the way to the Baha’i School — “Hollow Reed”, based on a prayer which I had always assumed to be by Abdu’l-Baha:

Oh, God, make me a hollow reed, from which the pith of self hath been blown so that I may become as a clear channel through which Thy Love may flow to others. I have left behind me impatience and discontent. I will chafe no more at my lot. I commit myself wholly into thy hands, for thou are my Guide in the desert, the Teacher of my ignorance, the Physician of my sickness. I am a soldier in my King’s army. I have given up my will to Him and my life to dispose of as He may please. I know not what fate Thou deignest for me, nor will inquire or seek to know. The task of the day suffices for me, and all the future is Thine. Thou changest weakness to strength, doubt to faith, perplexity to understanding. When I am fit to bear the burden, Thou wilt lay it on my shoulders. When I am prepared to take the field, Thou wilt assign me a place in the Army of Light. Now I have no other duty than to equip myself for Thy Service. With eagerness and patience, with hope and gratitude, I bend to the task of the hour, lest when Thy call comes I be found unready.

As it turns out, the prayer is neither by Abdu’l-Baha nor by the Hand of the Cause of God George Townshend — the album notes of the CD from which the song comes, Badasht, Vol I - While The City Sleeps — indicate clearly that the lyrics to this song are from unknown source. A letter from the Universal House of Justice clarifies this further. Whoever the unknown author, though, praise and gratitude are owed for this inspired song which couldn’t have come to us at a better time.

I am reflecting on the paralyzing paradox of dealing with my shortcomings yet needing to move on, in order to contribute to the betterment of the world. And, as always, the answer from the Holy Writings is inspiring and simple. The Bab addressing the Letters of the Living, as quoted by Nabil in “The Dawn-Breakers”, p. 94, says:

Heed not your weaknesses and frailty; fix your gaze upon the invincible power of the Lord, your God, the Almighty. Has He not, in past days, caused Abraham, in spite of His seeming helplessness, to triumph over the forces of Nimrod? Has He not enabled Moses, whose staff was His only companion, to vanquish Pharaoh and his hosts? Has He not established the ascendancy of Jesus, poor and lowly as He was in the eyes of men, over the combined forces of the Jewish people? Has He not subjected the barbarous and militant tribes of Arabia to the holy and transforming discipline of Muhammad, His Prophet? Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory.

And Baha’u'llah in His “Prayers and Meditations” (p. 157) gives me a prayer to live by:

The hearts that yearn after Thee, O my God, are burnt up with the fire of their longing for Thee, and the eyes of them that love Thee weep sore by reason of their crushing separation from Thy court, and the voice of the lamentation of such as have set their hopes on Thee hath gone forth throughout Thy dominions.

Thou hast Thyself, O my God, protected them, by Thy sovereign might, from both extremities. But for the burning of their souls and the sighing of their hearts, they would be drowned in the midst of their tears, and but for the flood of their tears they would be burnt up by the fire of their hearts and the heat of their souls. Methinks, they are like the angels which Thou hast created of snow and of fire. Wilt Thou, despite such vehement longing, O my God, debar them from Thy presence, or drive them away, notwithstanding such fervor, from the door of Thy mercy? All hope is ready to be extinguished in the hearts of Thy chosen ones, O my God! Where are the breezes of Thy grace? They are hemmed in on all sides by their enemies; where are the ensigns of Thy triumph which Thou didst promise in Thy Tablets?

Thy glory is my witness! At each daybreak they who love Thee wake to find the cup of woe set before their faces, because they have believed in Thee and acknowledged Thy signs. Though I firmly believe that Thou hast a greater compassion on them than they have on their own selves, though I recognize that Thou hast afflicted them for no other purpose except to proclaim Thy Cause, and to enable them to ascend into the heaven of Thine eternity and the precincts of Thy court, yet Thou knowest full well the frailty of some of them, and art aware of their impatience in their sufferings.

Help them through Thy strengthening grace, I beseech Thee, O my God, to suffer patiently in their love for Thee, and unveil to their eyes what Thou hast decreed for them behind the Tabernacle of Thine unfailing protection, so that they may rush forward to meet what is preordained for them in Thy path, and may vie in hasting after tribulation in their love towards Thee. And if not, do Thou, then, reveal the standards of Thine ascendancy, and make them to be victorious over Thine adversaries, that Thy sovereignty may be manifested unto all the dwellers of Thy realm, and the power of Thy might demonstrated amidst Thy creatures. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou willest. No God is there but Thee, the Omniscient, the All-Wise.

Make steadfast Thou, O my God, Thy servant who hath believed in Thee to help Thy Cause, and keep him safe from all dangers in the stronghold of Thy care and Thy protection, both in this life and in the life which is to come. Thou, verily, rulest as Thou pleasest. No God is there save Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.